National Geographic magazine began its foray into television documentaries with individual specials, which evolved into the beloved TV series National Geographic Explorer. While an around-the-clock cable network took the place of that series over time, it was recently revived through a series of new specials. The latest of which, Explorer: Lost in the Arctic, will premiere on Thursday, August 24th, at 10/9c on Nat Geo before streaming on August 25th on both Disney+ and Hulu.
(National Geographic/Renan Ozturk)
In 1845, England sent two ships to navigate a new trade route over the top of the world known as the Northwest Passage, led by Sir John Franklin. None of the 129 men on the voyage ever returned. What happened to “Franklin's Lost Expedition?” Voyages to find out their fate yielded signs of abandoned camps on land, in addition to 2 bodies. But it wasn’t until recently that more about the doomed expedition was uncovered. The wrecks of the two ships have been found, but there are still so many unanswered questions.
Enter Nat Geo Explorer, rock climber, and author Mark Synnott, who was also part of the team on another National Geographic special, Lost on Everest. This episode, Explorer: Lost in the Arctic, follows a similar structure. An unsolved mystery in a remote corner of the world that only the most daring can solve, paired with a crew of experts and modern technology on a quest for answers. Will they find them?
Like a National Geographic magazine article, what the Explorer series really does is give viewers a taste of what these adventures are like. Explorer: Lost in the Arctic doesn’t necessarily yield answers, but that’s part of the excitement. Will Mark Synnott and his team be able to go back there someday? Or will a future adventurer be inspired by this special and one day find the tomb of Sir John Franklin, which is believed to hold all of the answers? That remains unknown, but one thing is for sure – when answers are found, National Geographic will be there.
(National Geographic/Renan Ozturk)
Explorer: Lost in the Arctic comes from filmmaker Renan Ozturk, whose other credits include both Lost on Everest and a previous special in the revived Explorer series, Explorer: The Last Tepui. Sailing aboard The Polar Sun and retracing the path of Sir John Franklin’s expedition, Mark Synnott and Renan Ozturk are joined on board by a crew that includes first mate Ben Zartman. Upon arriving on King William Island in Nunavut, Canada, they are also joined by Franklin historian Tom Gross and Jacob Keanik, an Inuit man and a member of the Franklin Interim Advisory Committee. One thing’s for sure: no modern-day group of explorers is more capable of solving the mystery than this one.
Explorer: Lost in the Arctic premieres Thursday, August 24th, at 10/9c on Nat Geo. It begins streaming on August 25th on both Disney+ and Hulu.